New research from biologists at the University of Southern California (USC) Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences reveals that mifepristone, a drug best known for its use for ending early pregnancies, might also extend lifespan.
In a study involving fruit flies, John Tower, a professor of biological sciences at USC Dornsife, compared the effects of mifepristone to rapamycin, a drug that has demonstrated the ability to increase the lifespan of various animals.
Interestingly, combining the two drugs does not offer additional benefits and a slightly reduced lifespan, suggesting they act through the same biological pathway.
The study, published in the journal Fly, showed that both drugs independently extended the lifespan of fruit flies.